This seems to have been Stravinsky’s playful characterization of Schoenberg. See Dialogues by Igor Stravinsky and Robert Craft, p. 108, where Stravinsky tabulates the differences between himself and Schoenberg, culminating in:
Stravinsky: ‘What the Chinese philosopher says cannot be separated from the fact that he says it in Chinese.’ (Preoccupation with manner and style.)
Schoenberg: ‘A Chinese philosopher speaks Chinese, but what does he say?’ (‘What is style?’)
I guess it’s possible that Stravinsky is quoting Schoenberg here, but the parallelism suggests not, and when he does quote Schoenberg (as in row 1 in the table), he gives a citation.
This seems to have been Stravinsky’s playful characterization of Schoenberg. See Dialogues by Igor Stravinsky and Robert Craft, p. 108, where Stravinsky tabulates the differences between himself and Schoenberg, culminating in:
I guess it’s possible that Stravinsky is quoting Schoenberg here, but the parallelism suggests not, and when he does quote Schoenberg (as in row 1 in the table), he gives a citation.